Dali Temple has his Lord Luo

Chapter 44 Nanzhao Gu Insect
"But one thing is strange. When we fought against Nanzhao, Nanzhao lost nine out of ten battles, but Ma Guipo won a complete victory in the first battle."

Xu Zhaojun thought of this and expressed his confusion.

Nine defeats out of ten?

Luo Ning thought in his heart: It feels like there must be something in this, but he can't figure it out yet.

"Then thank you, Master Xu!"

Luo Ning stood up and seemed to want to investigate the Nanzhao delegation and others.

Qin Zhao thought of the whistle film:
"Sir Xu, the people of Nanzhao are good at taming animals. We found a reed in Duobai's package. Do you know its use?"

Xu Zhaojun flipped through the file:
"Here is only a little description from the last time an official from the Ministry of Rites went to Nanzhao. Not everyone in Nanzhao is good at taming animals."

Qin Zhao and Luo Ning came closer and read the records: Nanzhao people were good at Gu and could speak animal language. They had specially trained birds and insects for playing with, and the birds and insects needed special feeding.

Just a short record.

The two people walked out of the Ministry of Rites, and Qin Zhao had no clue: "Master Luo, where to go next?"

Qin Zhao found that as long as he investigated the case with Luo Ning, the most he said was asking her what to do next.

I am a complete little idiot.

Luo Ning was mysterious: "Master Qin, the next step is to arrest people!"

"Who to arrest?" Qin Zhao's eyes widened. After walking around, the case was solved again?
Luo Ning was amused by Qin Zhao's expression and laughed:

"Do you believe it? Mr. Qin, how can I be so powerful? Hahaha"

She actually lied to him! ! !
Qin Zhao grabbed Luo Ning and held her in his arms on the street: "Are you still teasing me?"

Luo Ning suddenly blushed: "Let go, someone is watching."

Qin Zhao ignored him. Several people passing by saw him and laughed and commented:

"Oh my god, this Lord Jinyiwei..."

Luo Ning dodged and beat Qin Zhao's chest with his hand:
"Master Qin, I was wrong."

The two of them were playing around, and finally Qin Zhao took Luo Ning's hand and walked struttingly on the road before giving up.

Luo Ning and Qin Zhao returned to the inn. Luo Ning wanted to talk to the waiter. If the Nanzhao people killed Duo Bai themselves, would the inn have no clues at all?

When the store clerk saw two adults walking in, he raised his head from behind the counter: "Sir."

The front room of the inn has been tidied up, but the man is sleepy.

"What? No guests?" Luo Ning asked.

The store clerk nodded, looking depressed: "Yes, sir, even though people are dead, no one is coming in."

“Where is last night’s check-in?”

Qin Zhao took the record book handed over by the store clerk: "Are all the recent registrations here?"

The store clerk nodded: "It's the off-season recently. The Ministry of Rites has reserved this place to receive the Nanzhao delegation. The rooms on the second floor are not open to the public. Several groups of guests are staying in the rooms downstairs."

"Are these people here now?" Luo Ning asked.

"The mission has been staying for more than two months. In the past five days, only two groups of people have checked in. One group checked out the day before yesterday. There are still two businessmen who have booked for three days and have one night left today, so they are still here."

"Can you call those two merchants over?"

Luo Ning wanted to continue to rule out the possibility of Zhao Guoren committing the crime.

The store clerk stretched his head and looked into the guest room on the first floor:
"Sir, wait for me, those two people should be there."

After saying that, he ran to the guest room to call someone.

Two people who looked like businessmen came out of the guest room on the first floor. Just now, the clerk said that the Minister of Dali Temple wanted to investigate the case and interrogate the case, so he was a little nervous.

An older person spoke first: "Hello, gentlemen, the younger one is Lu Ming. This is my brother, Lu Liang. We are merchants running goods between two prefectures."

Qin Zhao saw them wearing cloth clothes and looking reserved:
"Don't be nervous, you two. Something happened to the Nanzhao envoy, General Duo, and you must have known about it. Did you notice anything unusual last night?"

Lu Liang said:
"We live on the first floor, which actually happens to be downstairs from General Duo. I went to the second floor in the morning to see the excitement. Around midnight last night, I suddenly heard a bang. Now think about it, was it the sound of General Duo falling?"

Lu Ming took over and said, "Sir, we are all ordinary people. We have nothing to do with General Duo. I don't know if that's right."

"Don't worry, just say whatever you have to say."

Luo Ning knew that they were afraid of causing trouble and did not want to deal with the government:

"General Duo's case now involves the diplomacy between the two countries, so the clues you provide can directly affect the investigation of the case. As Zhao people, this is what you should do."

The two merchants were relieved.

"You can provide clues and questions, but I will consider the remaining issues. So, what special discoveries have you made while living here?"

Luo Ning tried his best to guide: "For example, have you ever heard a quarrel between Nanzhao people?"

Qin Zhao heard that Luo Ning believed that the Nanzhao people were fighting among themselves.

Lu Ming and Lu Liang thought about it, and Lu Ming said:
"I haven't heard of the quarrel, but the man with the beard seems to have a lot of dissatisfaction with General Duo. In fact, we only stayed for three days and we met at breakfast."

oh?Qin Zhao thought: This clue is useful.

"What noise could you hear last night?"

Both shook their heads.

Luo Ning thanked the two people and then climbed up the stairs to the second floor with Qin Zhao.

Just listen to Lu Liang say to the store clerk: "Little brother, what's going on hasn't been found out yet? The whistle sounded again last night."

The store clerk looked troubled: "I really don't know what's going on. I've asked around and no one knows."

Luo Ning turned around and asked them, "What whistle?"

Lu Liang frowned: "After I checked in, I heard strange noises. I am a light sleeper and will wake up at the slightest sound."

Luo Ning stopped and asked the clerk: "How long has this whistle been sounding?"

The store clerk thought for a moment:
"It's about January. Some guests did report that they would hear whistles at night, but there are not many people staying at our inn, so we didn't even mention it when checking out."

"Let's do this, call all the innkeepers here, and I'll find out about the situation later."

Luo Ning and Qin Zhao went up to the second floor and entered Bai Di's room.

Like the rooms of several other Nanzhao envoys, all things had been taken away. Bai Di's room was next to Duobai's, and Luo Ning opened the window.

The sound of the window bolt was stunned. Several guys working in the backyard looked up together. Luo Ning nodded. The window of Duobei's room could be seen here.

Looking around the room again, the trash can placed under the table caught Qin Zhao's attention: "Luo Ning, what is this?"

He picked out a few pieces of paper inside and wrapped a bunch of gray stuff:

"Like a bug?"

"Is it a Gu insect?" Luo Ning was surprised.

"It seems we still have to talk to the Nanzhao envoy."

The two of them went to Zhang Yuan's room again. Like Bai Di, it was clean and without any clues.

Luo Ning and Qin Zhao returned to the first floor, where four waiters from the inn were already waiting.

Luo Ning first asked the store clerk: "When people from Nanzhao came here, did they bring any insects or birds?"

The four people shook their heads. The shop assistant was curious:
"Did your lord find any clues?"

Luo Ning nodded:
"Who is responsible for the food of Nanzhao people?"

One of them, Li Guang, stood up:

"My lord, Xue Ren and I have always been in charge. There are only two of us in the kitchen."

"Do Nanzhao people have any special dietary requirements?"

Xue Ren shook his head. He was a rough-faced man:
"The food in Zhao country is heavier than ours. It likes spicy food, but nothing else."

"If you think about it again, have Nanzhao people ever asked for anything special?" Luo Ning chased after him.

The two still shook their heads.

"How long have you been at the inn? Who was on duty last night? Did you notice anything unusual?" Qin Zhao continued to ask.

Li Guang said quickly: "Sir, I was on duty during the day yesterday. I left the inn after dinner was ready. Xue Ren is here."

Xue Ren also nodded: "Yes, sir, I prepared the meal last night, but the Nanzhao envoy accepted the invitation from the Ministry of Rites and did not eat at the inn."

Luo Ning asked Xue Ren:
"You were in the backyard kitchen last night?"

"Yes."

"Have you noticed any problems?" Luo Ning stared at him.

"After General Duobei came back, a ceremonial officer from the Ministry of Rites chatted with him for a while. Then he closed the window, extinguished the candle, and went to bed." Xue Ren answered respectfully.

"Bai Di and Zhang Yuan, please pay attention to when you go to bed?"

"The time should be after General Duobai, because the backyard is facing their windows, so they extinguished the candles, and it was dark when I was in the backyard."

Luo Ning asked the other two people: "You were on duty last night? What did you do at the inn?"

A young man answered: "We are responsible for cleaning and reception in the front hall, because there have not been many guests recently, and all the guests came back late and went to bed early."

The other man nodded in agreement.

"After the Nanzhao envoys moved in, did you notice anything unusual? By the way, I heard from the guests that there was a whistle. Did you hear it?"

Luoning has always been confused about this place, whistle?Could it be Duobei’s whistle?
Except for Xue Ren, several people answered in unison: "Yes, I have heard it, but only intermittently, and I don't know what happened."

Luo Ning and Qin Zhao looked at each other and asked everyone to notify Dali Temple immediately if they remembered anything, and they walked out of the inn.

"Master Qin, let's go to Yizhuang to see Duobai's body first. If the Nanzhao people killed him with poisonous insects, there should be clues."

"Do you think it was the Nanzhao people who did it themselves?" Qin Zhao asked: "Bai Di or Zhang Yuan?"

"They are all suspected. Let's go to Dong Wuzuo to get the evidence, and then go to the foreign envoy's residence to meet them."

When they arrived at Yizhuang, Song Qingsong hadn't left yet. When he saw Luo Ning and Qin Zhao arriving, he entered the autopsy room directly.

"We haven't found anything yet." Song Qingsong said to Luo Ning, and walked into the morgue with them again.

Dong Wuzuo was looking down at the corpse for analysis.

Qin Zhao's first time in a place like this, he saw rosin burning in the four corners of the room.

Song Qingsong handed him a piece of cloth soaked in ginger, garlic, and white vinegar. Qin Zhao imitated Luo Ning and put it on his mouth and nose, and a strong smell rushed into his nose.

Luo Ning walked to Duobai's body and saw that the body had begun to change and was not as peaceful as when he found it in the morning.

At this time, the corpse had a ferocious face, protruding eyes, pale complexion, and blue lips.

The arms and upper limbs are in a weird hug shape, and the fingers are stiff. Because the Nanzhao people practice martial arts all year round and have well-developed muscles, they are generally taller than the Central Plains people.

The corpse spots were vaguely visible in the heart area, indicating that the time of death was no more than four hours. Luo Ning checked five fingers and found that the nails were all dark red.

"Is it poisoning?" Luo Ning was shocked.

(End of this chapter)